Monday, May 7, 2018

Drip Hydroponic System for Beginers

The drip
hydroponic system is the most used hydroponic system worldwide, be it by home
gardeners or by professional farmers. This system is quite easy and it needs
very few materials. The drip system is also flexible and effective. Basically,
this system works by dripping liquid nutrients on the roots of your plants.

The basics

The drip system can be designed easily, no matter the size. However, the
drip system is most suitable for bigger plants that need a lot of room for
their roots and you won’t need big water volume for this system. The drips will
easily flow all over the root area, no matter how big. Additionally, if you use
more planting medium for bigger plants, they will retain humidity better than
the small ones and they usually aren’t too fussy about getting a lot of water
all the time.

What
you need

§A tray for roots

§A container for
liquid nutrients

§A fountain pump or
fish pond pump

§A timed switch

§Planting medium

§Pipes to transport
water from the pump to the tray

§Flexible pipes to
re-transport liquid nutrients back to the container

§Alternatively,
paper clips to make holes in the pipes to drip out the nutrients

The
drip system works quite simply. Water and liquid nutrients is pumped from the
container through the pipes to over the planting medium tray. Liquid nutrients
then drips down onto the planting medium and the roots, and the excess will go
into the holes that are connected to pipes back to the container. It’s
important to note that container should at least be 6-8 inches bigger than the
tray to ease the way for excess water and nutrients.

There
are two types of drip hydroponic system:

Circulatory
Drip System

For
home gardeners, this system is used very frequently. This system refers to the
continuous use of excess water and nutrients from the first cycle in the next
cycles. This system is also called the recovery system because it’s very
effective in repairing the used excess nutrients to get circulated back into
the system.

This
circulatory drip system may cause changes in the pH or the nutrient level of
the liquid as the cycles go. So, it’s important to check and recalibrate the pH
and nutrient level of your liquid regularly.

Non-Circulatory
Drip System

This
system is used more because of the easy process and well-proven result.
However, it’s used more by home gardeners but not professional farmers.
Professional farmers have their own way to calculate special cycles to time
their watering time as specifically as needed. They water them long enough to
wet the planting medium plus the clear water.

Liquid
nutrients or water in this non-circulatory drip system tend to be more
neglected because there is no circulation or movement happening. You can refill
the container with regulated pH liquid nutrients and water. The condition of
your liquid nutrients will not change so you won’t need to check and
recalibrate regularly like you do in the circulatory system. Just make sure to
give enough stir to the liquid in the container so the heavier minerals won’t
stick to the bottom.